Team preview: RHS girls’ basketball

The Rhinelander High School girls’ basketball team was basically a .500 outfit last year, going 13-12 overall. But how the Hodags got there, and who they have coming back, has the team optimistic about what the 2025-26 season could hold.

With six players back from last year’s rotation and a freshman class that could contribute right away, coach Ryan Clark sees a squad that can contend for a Great Northern Conference title and advance deep in the WIAA tournament — just like his best squads in 2018-19 and 2019-20 did. 

“We should win a lot of basketball games. I told the girls, we’ve worked a long time for this future moment, and the moment is now, so we’re not going to shy from it,” he said.

The biggest boost for the Hodags comes in the return of junior Aubryn Clark, a former all-GNC first-team selection. She was averaging 21.5 points per game and hitting 40% from 3-point range last year before sustaining a back injury that cost her the final 12 games of the season. 

Rhinelander went just 4-8 in those contests, but Aubryn Clark’s loss forced others into larger roles within the rotation, with a residual benefit moving into this season.

“In the short term at the time, it was probably disappointing that we were struggling. However, the amount of minutes on the court we got, the amount of confidence we built from that, I think it carried over to the offseason” coach Clark said. 

The Hodags have no seniors, but a strong core of juniors who will factor significantly into the rotation. That includes guard Vivian Lamers, who was thrust into the top scorer’s role in Aubryn Clark’s absence and ended up averaging 11.5 points per game as she received honorable mention in the GNC. 

Others returning from last year’s rotation include junior guard Ella Miljevich, sophomore guard Ellie Cummings and junior forward Lexi Beran. Junior wing JaLyn LaChapelle also returns, but is expected to be sidelined for the first few weeks of the season as she works her way back from injury. 

    Teagan Clark looks to strip the ball during Rhinelander High School girls’ basketball practice at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Thursday, Nov. 13. Teagan Clark, coach Ryan Clark’s daughter and Aubryn Clark’s sister, headlines a freshman class that figures to contribute right away for the Hodag varsity. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

The returners will be bolstered by an incoming freshman class that includes the second of coach Clark’s three daughters, Teagan. Coach Clark not only called her the best defender in the program, but she will work in concert with her older sister and Lamers to give the Hodags a triple scoring threat. 

“I would say Aubryn and Teagan for sure will score a bunch. Vivian playing off of them, she can really shoot the 3. She’s smart, she knows how to move out the basketball,” coach Clark said. “She’s going to be able to get downhill a lot more than she has in the past as well. Those three, for sure, will be double-figure scorers. I’d be shocked if they don’t all average pretty good points.”

Coach Clark called guard play his team’s strength, and expects the team to play an uptempo style of basketball as a result. In addition to a full-court pressure defense, Clark has installed a free-flowing, European offensive scheme designed to attack the basket and score quickly. 

“There’s no shot clock in Wisconsin, but we’re gonna try to play (with) a shot-clock mentality,” he said. “You know, we want to get a good shot quick, because we just feel like we have the tempo and the depth, once everyone gets back, to really compete with teams.  

“There will be times where we could have all five guards on the court, and we’ll be very tough.”

In addition to Teagan Clark, twin freshman sisters Maddie and Kenzie Paulson are also expected to vie for time in the backcourt rotation. Coach Clark said Maddie Paulson and Cummings could serve as wild cards that could even further the Hodags’ scoring ability.

“I think Maddie and Ellie are huge, because if we can get one more really good attacker on the court, we get really good,” he said.

The Hodags don’t have much depth up front. Beran, a 5-11 forward, averaged 3.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game for the Hodags last year. Six-foot junior Liliana Kurilla and 5-7 junior Gracie Anderson are also expected to contribute up front, but coach Clark conceded that the team will be undersized compared to some of the other top teams in the conference and the region. 

“Interior post-play defense, especially, is a concern. We’ve adjusted our defense, so we have some different defense concepts that we’re going to do to kind of protect ourselves a little bit for those situations,” he said. “Lexi Beran’s going to have to play really big for us, when she’s in there. She’s got to find a way to neutralize some of those better players out there. We really don’t have a whole lot of size after her. Lili a little bit, but that’s about it.”

Lakeland has dominated the GNC the last several years, but the last of the Ouimette sisters, Kristina, has graduated and the T-Birds have a new coach this year in Levi Massey. That leaves the door open to a potential new champion. 

In the offseason, Mosinee was likely considered the favorite, but senior Taelyn Jirschele is expected to miss the season due to a knee injury. While the Indians still have plenty of talent, coach Clark said her absence would open the door for his team as well as Medford, which returns a pair of 6-foot juniors in Kayla Baumgartner and Taylor Klingbeil.

“They still have a really high floor and a high ceiling. There’s still going to be a state contender for Division 3. They just have athletes,” coach Clark said. “They’ve got Pacyn Stoffel coming in, who’s a 6-2 big that’s really good. Medford has those two 6-foot wings, and then their guards are seniors. They’re starting five is as solid as you get out there in our conference. But then I think we, too, have a really good shot.”

The Hodags will find out very quickly how they stack up against the other GNC favorites, as they get Mosinee and Medford at home back-to-back to open the conference season Dec. 2 and 5. 

“It should be fun. Knowing that those teams believe they can win, it should be a fun battle,” he said.

Rhinelander will have a trio of non-conference tune-ups to prepare for Mosinee, beginning with the season opener Thursday night at home against Crandon. The Hodags will then head to Medford over the Thanksgiving weekend of face Eau Claire Regis and Medford in the Tom Kislow Memorial Tournament.

“Crandon plays a zone traditionally, so that’s good for us because Mosinee will definitely do some junk defenses to take away Aubryn and Teagan,” coach Clark said. “Regis is one of the top five teams for Division 4 and have a really good point guard. They have a 6-5 big coming in for freshmen. They’re going to be tough, so that’s a great competition for us. And then Wausau West would be nice competition too.”

Fortunately for the Hodags, Mosinee drops to Division 3 this year, but if Rhinelander is to make a deep run in the WIAA tournament, it will likely have to get through a pair of 6-plus-footers who have committed to Wisconsin. 

Shawano, with senior Leah Nordin, headlines Rhinelander’s half of the sectional draw while defending sectional champion Rice Lake, with senior Adeline Sheplee, awaits on the other half of the bracket.

“The sectional, Shawano’s probably the favorite on that side, but we go that way. We wouldn’t see Rice Lake until sectional final. And I believe we’re sectional-quality team. So that’s our goal,” coach Clark said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].